Mumbai: The bustling streets of Kurla turned into a scene of unfathomable sorrow on Monday night when a bus accident claimed the lives of seven innocent souls, including a young woman starting a new job and a 70-year-old man who had only stepped out to make a photocopy.
In a city that never sleeps, the echoes of this tragedy will echo for a long time, a stark reminder for taking urgent steps for safety on the streets.
Twenty-year-old Afreen Shah had ambitions bright as the morning sun when she left home, eager to begin her first day at work.
Her father Abdul Salim Shah’s heart swelled with pride, unaware that this would be the last time he would see his daughter alive.
In a cruel twist of fate, Afreen became one of the seven victims who were mowed down by a runaway BEST bus on SG Barve Road.
Shah last spoke to his daughter when she was struggling to get an autorickshaw to return home after her first day at a new job with a private company and was advised by him to walk towards the highway to look for an alternative mode of transport.
“It was her first day at work at a new company. After work, she reached Kurla railway station, from where she called me at 9.09 pm saying she was not getting an auto rickshaw for Shivaji Nagar,” he recalled.
“I told her to walk towards the highway and get an auto rickshaw. But, at 9.54 pm, I got a call from my daughter’s phone, and it was a staffer from Bhabha Hospital,” Shah said.
Among the victims was also Vijay Gaikwad, a retired railway employee. Just moments before his life was tragically snuffed out, he told his family he was stepping out of their home for a simple errand.
Those would be the last words they would ever hear from him, leaving his loved ones grappling with the unbearable weight of loss.
Gaikwad resided in the Brahmanwadi area in Kurla (West), close to the spot where the incident occurred.
A shopkeeper, who witnessed the incident, said Gaikwad was the first person to be hit by the BEST bus before it rammed into other victims.
According to Gaikwad’s family members, he worked as a senior technician in the railways and retired around 10 years ago.
Witnesses recount the chaos that ensued as the bus, driven by a novice with only ten days of experience behind the wheel of an electric bus, lost control and swerved through the streets.
Local resident Zaid Ahmed, who rushed to the scene, recalled the horrifying moment. “I heard a loud noise and ran to the spot. The bus had hit pedestrians and several vehicles. I saw dead bodies in front of my eyes.”
As he and his friends hurried to rescue those trapped in an autorickshaw, the grim reality of the situation became painfully clear.
Among the deceased was Kaneez Ansari, an aaya (attendant) at Desai Hospital. Her family recounted the heartbreaking details of her final moments.
“She usually left home around 8 pm, but on that fateful night, she left at 9 pm,” her son-in-law Abid Sheikh said, tears in his eyes.
“She was standing outside the hospital when the bus struck her, pinning her between the vehicle and the bus.” A frantic call from her mobile phone summoned the family to Bhabha Hospital, where they faced the unimaginable.
As the investigation unfolds, police revealed that the driver of the bus had no prior experience operating electric vehicles, having only undergone a brief ten-day training.
Arrested for ‘culpable homicide not amounting to murder,’ he is now at the center of a growing storm of public outrage and demands for accountability.
The accident not only shattered the lives of seven families but also left 42 others injured and 22 vehicles damaged.
The civic-run Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) undertaking has initiated a committee to investigate the tragedy, while local leaders are calling for a reevaluation of the wet-lease model under which buses are hired from private contractors.
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